The North American women’s national team might not have a significant competition to anticipate this year, but this “off” season has already proven vital for the squad, potentially shaping the trajectory for the 2027 Women’s global event and the 2028 Games.
Principal coach Emma Hayes’s genuine efforts commenced following the team’s Olympic triumph in the French capital last year. Since then, Hayes has dedicated her time to expanding the roster and granting valuable opportunities to a selection of emerging players. The effects have been noteworthy, with numerous newcomers seamlessly integrating into the USWNT’s intensely competitive environment and making their presence felt in various matches, fully utilizing the chances presented to them. Within just a year of assuming her position, Hayes has already accomplished the challenging task of significantly broadening the player pool.
Approximately 50 players have participated in the USWNT’s 15 games since the previous year’s Olympic Games, furnishing Hayes and her team with ample resources as they commence a fresh phase of team development this autumn. The head coach designated this month’s exhibition game against the Canadians, a 3-0 victory in the nation’s capital, as the culmination of her extensive roster expansion endeavor. The subsequent phase will center on pinpointing the most exceptional players within a pool of roughly 50 and cultivating team harmony, with less than two years remaining until the global event.
The USWNT’s itinerary for the remaining portion of the year remains unconfirmed, although they are anticipated to partake in four to six contests during the fall months, as FIFA has designated an international period in October and another spanning from late November to early December to conclude 2025.
Meanwhile, these are the narratives to observe for the rest of the year.
Establishing a rejuvenated central roster
Hayes and her coaching personnel have dedicated a significant portion of the year to identifying emerging talents who possess the potential to contribute to the 2027 global event or the 2028 Games, largely irrespective of their immediate impact. The head coach is rectifying a longstanding concern she has held with her predecessors, asserting that she “inherited” a limited player pool stemming from an excessive reliance on seasoned talent. The timing was opportune, as the USWNT had slightly under three years between the Games in the French capital and the global event in the South American nation, affording the coaching staff and players the luxury of progressing at a measured pace.
After nine months, 15 matches, and 49 players, Hayes now possesses a thorough comprehension of the player pool, which will serve as a valuable cornerstone for her tactical blueprint over the ensuing three years. However, the next phase will likely witness the head coach determining which 20-plus players are leading the charge for roster positions at the global event, with potential answers emerging as early as October. It seems improbable that the door will be completely shut to anyone, as Hayes herself has indicated that some players may spend time with the U-23 national team if it enhances their prospects of securing playing time, providing them with an opportunity to impress sufficiently to rejoin the senior team. This introduces an additional layer of competition to an already competitive setting, a strategy Hayes deems essential to ensuring the USWNT remains among the world’s premier teams.
Reintegration of experienced players
During the USWNT’s period of experimentation, Hayes prioritized collaborating with new faces rather than the roster that secured Olympic gold in the French capital. While much of this was intentional, some of it was unavoidable. Several players, including Naomi Girma and Trinity Rodman, have been sidelined due to injuries, while Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson are currently on parental leave. Consequently, there remains a limited understanding of how the newcomers would fare among the mainstays. The upcoming months will offer numerous answers on this front, but sufficient information exists to extrapolate in the meantime.
Since October, six of the seven players with the most playing time were part of the gold-medal-winning team, with midfielder Sam Coffey and defender Emily Sonnett leading the way. However, the opposite trend is evident for some players, as midfielder Korbin Albert and forward Jaedyn Shaw have not been involved since April and joined the U-23 team in June, while defenders Jenna Nighswonger and Casey Krueger have not played since the previous year. The same applies to goalkeeper Casey Murphy, who served as Alyssa Naeher‘s backup at the Olympics but has not been with the team since a training camp in January. This indicates that the experienced players who will return to the mix this fall will be those whom Hayes genuinely believes are on the right path to being part of the team in 2027 and 2028, potentially signifying the head coach’s gradual assembly of the team in her own vision.
Who will be the starting goalkeeper?
Among all the uncertainties in the USWNT’s lineup, the starting position in goal remains the most significant question mark.
Six goalkeepers have played since the Olympics, including Alyssa Naeher in her final matches before retiring from the national team, each with varying amounts of playing time. Mandy McGlynn leads the group with four games, but the lead is not substantial, as Phallon Tullis-Joyce has three, while Jane Campbell and Claudia Dickey have each played twice, and Murphy has played once. This truly illustrates that the race to succeed Naeher is wide open, with October’s matches potentially shedding light on Hayes’s ranking of these shot-stoppers.
Murphy’s lack of playing time is perhaps the most surprising development, considering her long tenure as Naeher’s understudy. However, Hayes may have utilized the last 15 games to experiment as extensively as possible. She has expressed positive sentiments about the group, describing Tullis-Joyce as “leading in that area at this moment in time in her age category” prior to the June friendlies, and Dickey as “probably the best performing goalkeeper in the NWSL this season.”
No attacking trio, no problem?
The attacking trio of Rodman, Swanson, and Wilson have not played together since the Olympics, but the USWNT has not struggled to score without them, suggesting that the team’s historic abundance of riches in that category should persist for another generation or so. Several players have made substantial progress in that area of the pitch, most notably Alyssa Thompson. The 2023 global event participant ranks third in minutes played since the Olympics and has contributed four goals and one assist, ranking third in goal contributions during that period and likely having the strongest case to remain in contention for a starting role, with or without the attacking trio.
However, Thompson is not the only player making the most of her minutes. Yazmeen Ryan and Ally Sentnor are among the top 10 in minutes played for the USWNT since October, with the latter particularly impressing in her initial games for the senior national team. Sentnor has recorded four goals and two assists in 467 minutes of play, averaging a goal contribution every 77.83 minutes. Catarina Macario, finally a regular presence with the group after battling injuries for the better part of three years, has contributed three goals and two assists in 391 minutes of play, averaging a goal contribution every 78.2 minutes. Meanwhile, veteran Lynn Biyendolo has not missed a beat, ranking among the USWNT’s top 10 in minutes played and leading the group in goal contributions with six goals and one assist during that period. Each of the top performers has a compelling argument for a starting position, creating a wealth of options for Hayes and her staff in the years ahead.
Lily Yohannes and the midfield situation
Hayes has been meticulous in providing opportunities to a wide array of players, but if there is one representative of the youth-focused project, it is 18-year-old midfielder Lily Yohannes. The coaching staff have rightly exercised patience with Yohannes, who has played just 373 minutes since the Olympics, but the next two years will be crucial for her and the national team as a whole. Yohannes has transferred to OL Lyonnes from Ajax this summer, charting the next phase of her development at the club level and affording herself ample time to realize her potential. However, the signs are evident that the 18-year-old possesses the potential to be a transformative figure in the USWNT’s midfield, which has been lacking balance in recent years.
The team’s midfield has appeared unbalanced since Sam Mewis and Julie Ertz‘s time as regular starters came to an end before the pandemic-delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo, with Mewis dealing with injuries before retiring and Ertz missing time due to parental leave before also retiring. Former head coach Vlatko Andonovski struggled to find the right mix at the 2023 global event as the USWNT endured a 200-plus minute scoreless drought, and Hayes did not find the solution at the Games in the French capital. Relying on some combination of Coffey, Albert, Lindsey Heaps, and Rose Lavelle, Hayes’ USWNT occasionally felt disjointed and left room for improvement.
Coffey feels like a mainstay under Hayes at this point, having played more minutes than anyone since the Olympics, and Yohannes appears to be a player the USWNT is banking on in time for the 2027 global event. This leaves a relatively small number of positions up for grabs, as Lavelle is likely a starter when healthy, and there is arguably no other player in the pool who offers a similar profile in terms of her technical, attack-minded skillset. However, 19-year-old Claire Hutton appears to be rapidly ascending the ranks, potentially forcing Hayes to make some difficult decisions, particularly regarding Heaps’s role. She remains near the top in minutes played, ranking fourth in that category since the Olympics, and it seems unlikely that Hayes will abandon her anytime soon. Finding the right fit in a crowded field will likely be Hayes’s most challenging task, and while she has the luxury of time to determine how to strike the balance, figuring out how to do so will be key.
